In the process of mentoring, coaching and training many people over the years, one of the biggest excuses I have heard is;

“Patrick, I have no money or little money, how can I start and grow a business or an investment?”

When it’s appropriate to shake the other party from his comfort zone, I may reply;

“Can you see money pouring down from heaven and money all over the streets for your picking? A few do but many don’t.”

The greatest poverty is not a poverty of money but a poverty of dreams, perseverance and actions.

Throughout the history of personal wealth-creation, a lot of people have become rich through business and investment.

Many did not become rich because they were rich in the first place. They did not inherit any wealth from their parents, loved ones, or a lucking strike.

They learn how to look for and capitalise on wealth-creation opportunities through a variety of entrepreneurial, investment planning and remodeling, fund-raising, deal restructuring, and other initiatives.

In short, they learn to exchange ideas for money and creativity for wealth.

They make sacrifices to cultivate and strengthen their financial intelligence and leverage on it to achieve financial results.

They take massive action to achieve financial freedom.

Unfortunately, there are many sceptics, critics and naysayers that do not believe nor are they willing to take action to capitalise on a wealth-creation mindset, disciplined behaviour and lifestyle, and a well-cultivated network to propel their financial growth and achievement.

Many choose to live and work within their comfort zones throughout their lives.

Sadly, they may not realize that many have become rich in part because of them.

Those who know will eventually make money from those who don’t know or don’t want to know.

Those who learn will eventually make money from those who don’t learn or don’t want to learn.

Those who act will eventually make money from those who don’t act or don’t want to act.

I trust these words will inspire you to challenge conventional mindsets in order to achieve radical financial breakthroughs and results.

The “Seven Key Steps To Achieving Your Financial Goal” is designed in the form of questions that you can pose to yourself.

By posing questions to yourself, you can find the answers to help you take the correct steps to move forward and achieve success.

The quality of your achievement depends on the quantity of quality questions you pose to yourself throughout your life.

Asking the right question is liken to controlling the steering wheel of a car.

Asking the right question is the first and the right start. Many falter in posing the right questions to themselves and therefore, steel themselves on the wrong path and in the wrong direction.

1. What’s Your Goal?

Ask yourself, what’s my dream for the future? What do I really want to achieve by a specific date?

Crafting your dream is like using a compass. It will help you chart your direction to your destination in life.

2. Where Are You Right Now?

What’s your current position right now?

If you don’t know where you are, you cannot make a meaningful start. You will not reach your destination because you can’teven plan for the journey.

3. What’s Your Initial Action Plan?

What do you have to initially do to achieve your dream? How can you take the first few critical steps?

If you dream and you don’t know how to turn your dream into a reality, you’re living in your own mind. Like diapers, it may give you some comfort but it is definitely not a permanent solution.

Without knowing what to do, you can’t fulfil your dream.

4. What’s Causing The Gap?

What causes the gap between your dream and achievement of the dream? What are the primary causes of the gap?

You need to know the sources of the problems so that you can resolve them. By dealing with the symptoms, your problems will either continue or they will return back to haunt you.

Count the cost to fulfil your dream. Pay the price and make the necessary sacrifices.

Hard work is definitely a necessary part of the journey.

5. How Can You Close The Gap?

How can you resolve the issues to close the gap? What can you do to take yourself from where you are until you reach your goal?

You need to have a detailed action plan. Like they say, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. You need to map out the strategies and tactics to reach your dream.

It includes a detailed list of actionable steps. In addition, you need to craft different alternatives in case the route that you had selected did not work.

You need to deploy your resources effectively and efficiently so as to make your dream come true.

6. How Can You Implement The Action Plan?

The key difference between dreaming and achieving the dream is just one word – execution. It is the capacity, ability and tenacity to act on your dream.

If you have a dream and you don’t take action, you’re building castles in the air. On the other hand, if you take action but you don’t have a dream, you are merely running around the same castles.

It is not enough to be a dreamer, you need to be a doer too. You need to go beyond execution and learn how to excel in your action.

Execution is about improving your action constantly so as to bring your dream closer to reality.

7. How Can You Evaluate And Improve Your Progress?

how can you measure and improve your progress in achieving your dream?

If you cannot measure, you cannot keep track of where you are and how you’re going to reach your destination. Through measurement, you can find out if you are moving in the right direction and find ways to improve your journey.

Even if you’re happy with the current state, you can research and find out if there is a better position that you should be in. Look for gaps that are holding you back from serving a higher calling and fulfilling a worthier cause.

Then, follow the above 7 steps to take yourself and team there.

When I was serving my national service as an officer, I was trained to bridge a gap through obstacles. Our troops will then be able to go through the gap to reach our objective or a better ground.

Enjoy yourself as you breach one gap after another to take yourself to a higher level of achievement.

Unfortunately, most people have not conditioned their minds, programmed their brains, and wired their neural networks for financial success.

While growing up, their parents did not teach them how to be rich and wealthy.

In schools, not many teachers are focused on being financially intelligent. Few are able to impart financially literacy knowledge and skills to their students.

Perhaps, that’s why financial literacy education is not a major part of academic curriculum.

In most workplaces, employers are not inclined to help their staff improve their financial literacy levels. They’re concern about setting unnecessary expectations and losing their employees.

To make matters worst, there are very few programmes that can help ordinary persons improve their financial positions and achievements.

Just as importantly, not many people are willing to pay the price, make necessary sacrifices, and discipline themselves to learn, improve and achieve better financial results.

As a result, most people have not honed their reticular activating system (RAS) to enhance their financial success.

The RAS is a part of the brain’s attention centre. It’s responsible for regulating transitions between sleep and wakefulness, including levels of consciousness.

In addition, it’s also the gatekeeper of thoughts, emotions and external influences.

As a switching centre, the RAS processes a constant bombardment of information that are received through all five senses.

It sieves out crucial information to be transmitted to the conscious mind so as to
coordinate integrated responses to external stimuli and inputs.

As a result, the RAS plays an important part in activating the right focus, motivation, and action to achieve financial goals.

Having taught many people about the vital functions of the RAS, I can count only a few people who are aware about the RAS and are committed to sharpening their RAS to achieve financial freedom.

Besides teaching my students different strategies and techniques to develop the RAS in order to create, grow, spend and protect wealth wisely, I also encourage my students to carry out an ongoing series of fun work.

(I hate to use words like homework, exercises or practices).

I taught them that wherever they are, they should always explore ways to help improve the people and environment around them.

Whenever my students come across a profit-making enterprise, project or activity and even if they are not involved in it, they should challenge themselves to come out with ways to strengthen those enterprises and increase their number of customers, sales, and profits.

By doing so, they learn to focus on wealth-creation.

Whatever they focus upon will take on a clearer and more effective and efficient perspective.

They also learn to be more curious about money, and to research and reflect more deeply into the art and science of improving their financial positions and assets.

As they carry out these fun works, they develop their RAS to help them make the world a better home.

They also learn how to raise more financial resources to serve a higher calling and fulfill a worthier cause.

In conclusion, please look within and around you right now.

How can you do more and do better for yourself, others and the environment?

How can you earn more money to help you live a more meaningful, exciting and fulfilling life?

Keep asking yourself such questions and you’ll hone your RAS to support you in achieving financial freedom.